View full sizeChelsea Cabrajac of Long Beach State dives for the ball during the finals of the 2013 AVCA Collegiate Sand Volleyball national team championship finals on Saturday, May 4, 2013. (Mark Inabinett/minabinett@al.com)

GULF SHORES, Alabama - That a school with beach in its name is the 2013 sand volleyball national champion shouldn't be too surprising. But Long Beach State had to do something today that had never been done to push Pepperdine off its perch and claim the 2013 AVCA Collegiate Sand Volleyball national team championship.

Pepperdine won the inaugural tournament to cap an undefeated season last year and was trying to do the same today. However, the Waves couldn't overcome the loss of an injured player and fell to the 49ers 3-2 - the first sand volleyball setback in the program's history.

"I was happy we were playing them in the finals," Long Beach State coach Matt Ulmer said of Pepperdine. "They're amazing. Class act. Great coaches. Great athletes. Great people. I just really respect them. They hadn't lost in two years, and I just thought it would be a great final for everybody to watch.

"I think we're the two best teams in the country, and I just want our sport to get recognized, so I wanted it to be the best level of volleyball possible."

Long Beach State started the championship match ahead 1-0 because Pepperdine didn't have enough players to put a pair on all five courts and forfeited a match. Already without Kim Hill from its No. 1 pair, Pepperdine lost her substitute, Jazmine Orozco, to a concussion suffered in the Waves' quarterfinal victory over Southern Cal on Friday.

View full sizeCaitlin Racich of Pepperdine serves during the finals of the 2013 AVCA Collegiate Sand Volleyball national team championship finals on Saturday, May 4, 2013. (Mark Inabinett/minabinett@al.com)

For the second time today, Long Beach State's Jocelyn Neely and Lauren Minkel won the third set of the only match still going to take a victory.

The championship match came down to Neely and Minkel against Pepperdine's Victoria Adelhelm and Taylor Racich.

The Long Beach State duo won the first set 21-19 when Neely's block fell onto the sand on the Pepperdine side for the winning point.

Because of staggered starts used in the championship match, the second set started on the heels of a 21-19, 21-18 victory by Long Beach State's Janisa Johnson and Tyler Jackson over Emily Cook and Katie Messing that tied the finals 2-2.

Pepperdine had won the first two matches. Lara Dykstra and Caitlin Racich bounced back to beat Delainey Aigner-Swesey and Chelsea Cabrajac 16-21, 21-13, 15-9 and Kelley Larsen and Kellie Woolever defeated Bre Mackie and Libby Fontanilla 21-17, 21-17.

Adelhelm and Taylor Racich went on a tear to tie the final match, winning the second set 21-9 to set up the winner-take-all third set.

"They played very well in the second set," Ulmer said. "It's a good team. They've battled all year with our group. I knew it was going to come down to the last points at the end. It's what's happened to us all weekend. It's happened with us all season.

"We had our two most experienced players playing in that match. I knew they could come through for us."

View full sizeLauren Minkel of Long Beach State tries to keep the ball off the beach during the finals of the 2013 AVCA Collegiate Sand Volleyball national team championship finals on Saturday, May 4, 2013. (Mark Inabinett/minabinett@al.com)

Neely and Minkel bounced back with a strong finish, taking a 15-10 victory in a set that was tied 8-8.

Neely dropped in a dink and Minkel slammed home a spike for the final two points and the title.

Ulmer said the championship does not come with an asterisk because of the forfeited match that made the one-point difference.

"It doesn't bother me," Ulmer said. "I feel bad for their players on Pepperdine because they deserved to be playing in the national championship because they'd earned that. But what I've learned at Long Beach is injuries happen, things happen and it's how do you deal with it.

"I'm really proud of our girls because we could have slowed down because that happened. Instead, we stayed our course. So I'm really proud of our girls. And I'm also proud of Pepperdine because they fought extremely hard even though they had such circumstances."

Pepperdine defeated Long Beach State in the championship match last year and was the only team that had beaten the 49ers this season, taking a 3-2 win on March 16, a 4-1 win on April 10 and a 3-2 win on April 20.

The Waves had five 3-2 verdicts in 20 matches this season - two with Florida State, including today's semifinal victory in which Pepperdine started in a 1-0 hole, and three with Long Beach State.

In the deciding set, neither pair was ever more than two points ahead. With the score 13-13, Minkel's smash put Long Beach a point from the final. When Southern Cal's return landed wide on the next exchange, Long Beach moved on.

Pepperdine had four players on the AVCA All-American team announced at the post-tournament awards ceremony - Hill, Lilla Frederick, Dykstra and Caitlin Racich. As Hill's partner, Frederick didn't play in the semifinals or finals today.

Long Beach State put two players on the All-American team - Caitlin Ledoux and Tara Roenicke, who also sat out the finals because they received the forfeit.

The other All-Americans were Kate Stepanova of Florida International, Jace Pardon and Sarah Wickstrom of Florida State, Lane Carico of Georgia State, Kelly Reeves of UCLA, Zuzana Markova of Louisiana-Monroe and Kirby Burnham and Stevi Robinson of Southern Cal.

The AVCA also named its first sand volleyball Coach of the Year, with Pepperdine's Nina Matthies earning the honor.

The CBS Sports Network will package three hour-long shows about the tournament. They will be aired at 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. May 21 and 7 p.m. May 28.